The Peak is a Treacherous Climb
by thesoundofmusic8284
Summary: An OC based story inspired by the Prince of Tennis. It follows a girls' tennis team in their quest to win their club's first national title even though the captain, while freakishly tall, is shy, the vice captain is somewhat sadistic, and the club has barely enough members to register for tournaments.
1. Prologue

**The story is meant to be somewhat of a side story to the** _Prince of__ Tennis_ **as it depicts what happens as girls' tennis teams fight for the national title. I do not own the** _Prince of Tennis_ **or any of the PoT characters that appear in this story. ****This is my first fanfiction, so if you have time, I would be grateful if you could review it. Thank you!**

The day before the start of their third year, Haruko, Ayano, and Yui made sure to meet at the local public tennis courts in order to practice and plan the tennis club policies for the upcoming year.

"I think we should tell the first years that we are aiming for the national title as soon as they say they're interested in the club," said Haruko after they had greeted each other and asked how the brief vacation had been going.

"You might scare them away if you do that captain," replied Yui as she delicately placed her racquet bag near one of the public court's benches. "We're already short on members, so we could use as much fresh blood as possible."

"I think that they'll be scared away anyway," interjected vice-captain Ayano, who had already taken out her racquet and began doing her warm-up routine. "Thanks to the past captains, the girls' tennis club has a reputation for being extremely physically demanding." She laughed and then added, "tough we'll probably get a few of those crazy girls, like us, who think they can handle the pressure, and there are always the girls who want to play a sport where they get to run around looking pretty in a skirt."

Haruko and Yui both had to laugh at this as both Yui and Ayano had chosen to wear skirts for this outing, although Ayano did have her signature compression shorts on under her skirt.

"Anyway," continued Haruko after she caught her breath, "I don't want to lie, and we are a rigorous club, and I am going to expect the best from everyone who joins, so shouldn't I just say that straight out?"

"That is your style," giggled Ayano. "Just don't regret it when no freshmen decide to join after you tell them you are going to make them do shuttle runs until their feet start bleeding!"

"You know that I like working on technique more than strength, Mrs. Vice-Captain," said Haruko, continuing the banter and pulling out her own racquet, "but I did learn some new stamina and strength building exercises at the Jr. Selection Camp that I think could spice up our routine."

"Whatever you want," said Yui, "you're the captain. Just checking, we are going to do both morning and afternoon practices right?"

"Yes," answered the captain as she took a tennis ball out of the bag's pocket. "I think we can do strength and stamina in the mornings and have more of a focus on technique in the afterschool sessions, and then on Saturdays, we can do both or do practice matches. Hopefully that will build a well balanced team. But right now, I want to play for a bit; it's been lonely practicing all by myself."

"Now I see," said Ayano as she stepped towards the court closest to the trio, "you chose this out of the way place so that no one will watch us, and you can play at your full power. Tricky, very tricky, but I saw it coming, and today is the day that I will beat the you playing at your best. I'll even let you serve first, Kimura would you be ref?"

"Fine, fine" said Yui somewhat reluctantly as she walked to where she would have a good view of both sides of the court. She had been hoping to get to play a bit as well, but had guessed earlier that Ayano would challenge Haruko, especially since there would be no audience. Shaking her head as Haruko and Ayano prepared to begin, she hoped, for the sake of the Shinsuji girls' tennis club that Haruko would get over her stage fright before the first official tournament.

Haruko began the match with a strong first serve, but nothing un-returnable for Ayano, who hit it back almost effortlessly. As if she had been hoping for that, the freakishly tall Haruko then used her long arms as a fulcrum to generate the power for a ripping winner that was even able to counter the spin Ayano had been able to put on the ball, and so the two played, wearing each other down slowly.

After about an hour, Haruko had the upper hand, though, and the sun began to set behind the nearby buildings, making the ball became harder to see. Yui eventually decided to call the match 4-2 for Haruko, even though the set wasn't completed so that the three could go home before their parents got worried.

As the soon to be eighth graders parted ways until school the next day, they renewed the promise they had made to last year's captain as they tearfully wished her luck in high school.

"We will win nationals this year," they had chorused then as they did now.

"We'll get our revenge," said Ayano. "We'll show the country that Shinsuji isn't just some loser school that keeps getting kicked out in the first round after making it all the way to nationals. We'll beat them all, don't worry."

"Hyotei will lose," replied Haruko with a small smile at how she had turned last year's national champion, Hyotei's popular chant around.

"Shinsuji will win," countered Yui who knew the effect Haruko was trying to achieve, so the three parted hope-filled and happily focused on the future to lay out their crisp school uniforms for the following morning.


	2. Chapter 1

Ch 1:

Haruko woke up to the sound of her alarm, jarring after a week of sleeping in (relatively), and lay in bed trying to calm her tingling nerves. Her normal first-day-back butterflies seemed to have reproduced because she would now have added responsibility as captain of the Shinsuji girls' tennis club.

"Breathe," she told herself repeatedly, one of the many tricks she had read about in her quest to eradicate the inhibiting uncertainty and queasiness that infected her body whenever she had to perform in front of people. She breathed in for a four count, held for four, let out for four, and held out for four before repeating the cycle. Slowly she regained the ability to move her muscles and was able to push the covers away, put on her glasses, and get out of bed. Then delicately, she began putting on the school uniform she had set out the night before. The two gold stripes at the end of both her skirt and tie seemed to shine against the blue backgrounds, for these were the official emblems marking her as a third year.

Once she was dressed, she quickly swept her shoulder length black hair into her standard high ponytail and went out to join her family for breakfast. Her brother, excited for his first day of middle school, was already seated.

"Good morning Haruko," said her mom who had been just about to wake her up. "Nervous for you first day?"

"Not really," replied Haruko not wanting her family to ever find out about her debilitating fear. "No more than usual." (which was not technically a lie)

Her dad called his greetings from the bathroom where he was also getting dressed, and her brother gave a typical you-annoy-me-but-I-love-you-anyway grunt of recognition and went back to eating. Haruko quickly sat down and began her meal, wanting to finish at the same time as her brother so that they could walk to school together.

Their dad left for work after a quick wave, and the siblings followed soon afterwards, but only after their mother had handed them each a packed lunch and hugged them good bye.

"Make me proud," she called to them as they exited the yard. "Show them what the Kita family is capable of!"

"Hey Juro," said Haruko once the two were out of earshot, "are any of your friends from elementary going to Shinsuji?"

"Not a lot," he answered thoughtfully, "but part of middle school is making new friends I guess. Anyway, you're going to be the girls' tennis captain right? I'm thinking of joining the boys' team, do you know anything about them?"

"Yeah, they make it to the prefecture tournament every year, and sometimes they go on to nationals. I think their captain and vice-captain were ranked among the top 100 middle school male tennis players."

"But what are practices like?"

"Umm, from what I've heard, they are pretty intense, lots of running and things, but our courts are separated, so I don't see them actually play. Are you going to check it out this afternoon? If you are, we can walk home together."

"I'm still thinking about it, so don't wait for me."

"Okay. Oh, and morning practices are starting on Wednesday, so I'll stop walking with you to school, unless you want to come early with me?"

"Haha, no thanks, I like my sleep, though if the boys' team has morning practice I'll go to that."

By then, the siblings had joined with other students also heading towards the school's gates, and Haruko could feel her nervousness growing again, especially because with her height, she stuck out like a light house on a stormy night. She hunched her shoulders and stared into space.

"Your class list should be over there," she said, pointing to a large group of young looking students gathered around several posted notices. "Mine are inside, on the third floor, so I'll leave you here." But Juro had already been swept away by a crush of frantic freshmen desperately hoping to be in classes with people they knew, so Haruko turned to go change her shoes and walk up to the third floor.

"Kita, you're finally here," called a voice from down the hall. Haruko turned to see Ayano walking towards her at a furious pace towing a reluctant Yui behind her. "Guess what," she continued, almost yelling from excitement, "this year, for the first time since we began our time middle school, a historic event has occurred."

Haruko perked up at the description of the event, almost asking what "it" was, but she thought the better of it when she realized that Ayano would continue no matter what she said. After a dramatic pause, Ayano continued her announcement.

"All of the third year tennis players are…in the same homeroom!"

"Really," asked Haruko thankful, though somewhat dubious about the apparent good luck that had befallen them, "which one?"

"3-B, don't worry, I checked too," said Yui finally breaking into the conversation. "I had to make sure she wasn't lying."

"Aww, you don't trust me?"

"Not after what you pulled last year when you told the third year that I had a crush on him."

"But you did, Yui, I saw how you blushed, and you would have ben soooo cute together," said Ayano with a somewhat devious smirk. "No harm, no foul, he didn't even know who you were anyway, maybe you should be more outgoing?"

"I did not," said Yui matter-of-factly, "you made it up, so no, I don't trust you. You'll have to earn it back."

Still arguing, Ayano and Yui walked towards their new classroom, followed close behind by Haruko, who was doing her best to eavesdrop on what forms the eventual revenge war would take, some of which included putting worms in Ayano's racquet bag or forcing Yui to do burpies during strength training.

"Your fault, end of story," said Yui as the bell rang. "We weren't able to discuss the even more important news." She turned to Haruko, "apparently there are some good tennis players among the freshmen, or at least freshmen who know the rules. I'm not exactly sure how good that means they are, but Watanabe came and told Ayano this morning, and she said that they were worth looking at."

As the teacher began placing them in seats, (Haruko, sadly ended up at the front), thought about the rumor Yui had told her. "Freshmen" meant more than one, she mused, so if they all joined the club, then there would be enough to register for tournaments, and Watanabe Miyako was known for being the best, most reliable source of information in the school. So maybe, Haruko prayed, the rumor would be true, that would be a load off her chest.


	3. Chapter 2

Ch 2:

By the time lunch rolled around, Yui had had enough of Ayano pulling her hair and poking her in the back with her pencil while trying to get her attention. Since their last names were close enough in the alphabet, (Kimura and Mastuoka) they would be forced to sit there for the first half of the semester before their teacher would let them switch. Yui grimaced. She liked Ayano and knew she was a great person to know in tough times, but for the most part, Yui only wanted to see her in small doses like during tennis practice.

Then, the bell rang for lunch break, and Yui walked up to Haruko's desk as fast as she could without looking like she was running.

"Hey, Yui," Haruko said as she closed her notebook and looked up. "Before we eat, I need to go talk to about practice today. Do you want to come? And Ayano should probably come too."

"Go where?" asked AYno, walking up to here the tail-end of the question. "To coach? Didn't you see him over break when you came to reserve the weight room?"

"Yeah, but I had some more ideas about what we could do to welcome first years and encourage them to stay with the club, and I want to hear what he has to say," she replied quickly.

"Fine, come on Yui, let's go too," grumbled Ayano, slightly annoyed. "But Haruko you've got to have more confidence as the captain. You can't rely on the coach for everything."

"I know, you've said that before," said Haruko as she got up from her desk. "But I think that this is important, and I would like an adult opinion, especially one what has been leading the club for several years, so shut it."

"I said it was fine, and we're going," replied Ayano quickly, slightly surprised at the outburst.

The trio left the classroom to find Mr. Oshiro, who, hopefully, would be in the faculty office. Haruko and Ayano began a light banter about the math teacher and whether he resembled some animated character, and Yui started to zone out when she didn't recognize the character or why it mattered. Yui jumped when she noticed Miyako beside her.

"Oh Watanabe, why are you here," asked Yui after she recovered. The other two turned around and also greeted her.

"I wanted to tell captain what I'd heard about the freshmen. I didn't think Vice-Captain would remember."

"What freshmen," asked Haruko, puzzled. "Ayano you were going to tell me something but class started, was this it?"

"Oh yeah," remembered Ayano. "I didn't forget, but this was what I wanted to say: Watanabe says that the freshmen this year are really good (I know I told you that part) and at least one used to play in an outside club (right Watanabe?) and there are also a couple good athletes who might come out for tennis because we made it to nationals last year."

"Essentially correct," answered Miyako. "I don't have any definites, but I guess you'll find out the rest this afternoon. Kagome's waiting for me, so I'll see you this afternoon."

"Oh, okay," replied Haruko. "Thanks for the info, and say 'hi' to Masuyo for me."

"Sure thing. Bye Captain, Vice-Captain, Kimura."

"She always scares me a little bit whenever I see her," said Ayano once Miyako was out of earshot, but somehow she knows everyone doesn't she?"

"I think her dad is related to the chairman of the school or something like that," mused Yui. "Fine with me as long as she is on our side." Haruko turned.

"We'd better hurry to coach or there won't be much time for us to eat," she said as they began walking quickly towards the faculty office.

The group found Mr. Oshiro easily and he welcomed them into the quiet office area. Haruko gave him a copy of the registration form she had created and asked him to make copies, so that she could hand them out in the afternoon. Yui noticed that Haruko's hand shook when she let go of the form.

"You okay?" she whispered.

"Fine" was the response.

"No you're not," said Mr. Oshiro (who, like all teachers, has supersonic hearing) as he filed the form away. "But some stress is good. It helps us humans preform at our best. Just remember to do your breathing thing or whatever and Matsuoka will be up there."

"I know it's just…" she began.

"Just nothing," he interrupted. "Relax, anyway, I have lessons to prepare, so I'll meet you after school."

"Bye," the trio chorused as they filed out of the room.

"Food time," shouted Ayano in an outdoor voice and skipped back to the classroom trailed by the other two.

"Trust me, I'm fine," said Haruko, turning to Yui with an attempt at a sparkling smile. "I've been working on my problem, and it's getting better, promise."

"Okay Captain," said Yui with skepticism dripping from her voice. "Let me know if you need any help, or Ayano, she'll help too."

"I know, and thanks. I'm glad you're here, and Ayano's already been a big help. I just need to focus on getting through today and it'll be fine."

As they approached the room they found Ayano waiting for them.

"Quick, quick," she yelled as she shoved them into the room and started pulling desks together. "The bell's going to ring soon, and we have to commemorate out first lunch together as classmates."

The other two laughed and started helping her before they all sat down and ate the packed lunches their parents had given them, looking forward to the start of tennis club.


	4. Chapter 3

Ch 3:

"I hope they're not too mean," thought Cho to herself as she walked nervously towards the tennis courts. "I mean, I've never played a real match before, but at least I'm in shape, so I won't be too far behind.

She noticed a small line girls forming in front of a table near the courts' entrance. Cho recognized a short-haired girl from her class and tapped her on the shoulder.

"I-is this where we get registration forms?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yup, you came to the right place," answered the other girl confidently. "We're signing forms first and then the captain's going to speak, and we can ask questions about the team. Tomorrow there'll be the first practice, and then tryouts for a spot on the regular team will be next Monday."

Cho thanked her without asking her name and turned to observe the girls working behind the table. One was sitting with excellent posture and politely smiling at all of the first-years as she handed them forms. The other, though she had a stack of pens and clipboards in front of her-which Cho assumed she was supposed to be handing out-was turned around in her seat talking to four girls busy comparing heights and chatting.

The short haired first-year girl turned around.

"Wait, you're from my class, right? Do you play tennis? What club?" she asked without any hesitation to let Cho answer.

"Um, I played a little tennis with my older sister, but I never competed before," said Cho. "I was on a swim team in elementary school though, do you think that would help?"

"Could," replied the short-haired girl thoughtfully. "You should have strong shoulders and you're used to working out. Oh it's my turn." She turned towards the smiling girl at the desk, which Cho realized they had gotten closer to.

"Hello, I am third year Kimura Yui," heard Cho as the girl introduced herself and gestured to the girl next to her. "This is Vice-Captain Matsuoka, and the tall girl behind me is Captain Kita, if you could take a pen and clipboard and fill out this form, please. Even if you decide not to stick with the club, it helps us with our recruitment strategies for next year."

"You won't have to worry," laughed the short-haired first year. "I don't quit once I start something." She took a form and moved off to start answering the questions.

Cho stepped forward.

"Hello, I am third year Kimura Yui," began Yui again.

"Th-that's okay," interrupted Cho nervously. "I heard what you said to the girl in front of me. I just need one of these forms, right?"

"Yes," replied Yui smiling brightly. "Filled out completely, and then stick around so that you can hear more about the team."

Cho took the form, a pen, and clipboard and made her way to a less crowded spot and looked at the form. Most of the questions were standard: name, age, birth date, class, years of experience, and so on, but there were some that confused Cho like "what time do you usually get up in the morning?" She filled it out as honestly as she could and went to turn it in. Some people were still filling out their forms, so Cho waited around listening to the light chatter as girls discussed their hopes for the team.

A well-built man came out of the nearby club house and interrupted the babble. "I know some of you are still filling out forms, but I want to go ahead and introduce myself. I am Coach Oshiro. As you can see," he said waving at the girls behind the table, "the current team is very small, most of our non-regular members quit, and we had quite a few graduate. I'll let the captain speak now."

Cho watched as the tallest girl from the group behind the table broke off and moved to face the crowd of first years. The girl Yui had introduced as Vice-Captain also stood up and joined her.

"H-hello, I-I'm the c-captain, Kita Haruko, p-pleased to m-meet you," began the captain. Cho could hear the quiver in her voice and see her face get paler as she began to speak again. "W-welcome to the g-girls tennis club.

The girl took a deep breath and started again, her voice coming out stronger this time.

"Our goal is the national title. As some of you may know" Cho saw her hands start shaking," we lost in the first round of the national tournament last year," another pause for breath, "well this year we're going to work harder to make it all the way to the top. We are going to have morning practices for weight training and cardiovascular fitness starting Wednesday, afternoons for technique and Saturdays for training and practice matches."

Cho could hear some of the girls start to whisper frantically, but the captain did not pause.

"Tomorrow, there'll be a small tryout just to see what level everyone is on so we can divide up training. We don't do tryouts for the regular team, instead Coach Oshiro decides the group before we sign up for tournaments. That way," another pause "everyone has a chance to play in a real match if they work hard. But next Monday we'll post the lineup for next Saturday's practice match. Do you want to add anything Ayano?"

"Not much, only that if you aren't interested in bleeding for the sake of winning, you should probably try a different club."

Out of the corner of her eye, Cho could see some girls trying to sneak off, while others, like the short-haired girl she had spoken to earlier, had leant forward, excited by the prospect of becoming strong.

"If you have any questions, you can come up and ask!" shouted Ayano as the crowd began to get noisier.

As she walked hesitantly towards the group of tennis players to ask about the exact morning practice times, Cho felt a tug on her sleeve. Cho swung around to see one of the many mysteries of life, Watanabe Miyako, a girl who seemed to be friends with everyone without having to introduce herself—or speak for that matter.

Miyako looked Cho carefully up and down before ending the somewhat awkward silence on Cho's part.

"Were you one of the ones who played tennis?" she asked vaguely.

"I-I played a little when I was younger," answered Cho, flustered at being addressed so suddenly by an upperclassman.

"Oh, you looked strong, so I thought, maybe… oh well, you wouldn't happen to know who it is would you?" said the older, but smaller girl as she moved her head to scan the girls around Cho for signs of athletic ability.

Cho could see the ears of her short-haired classmate twitch towards the sound of Miyako's voice.

"N-no, I used to be a swimmer," stated Cho, and the eavesdropper turned around to interrupt.

If you're looking for a tennis player in the freshman class, that would be me," she spouted. "I've been playing for three years now, and I even have a secret weapon."

Miyako nodded her head sagely as if she had known that all along. "And the other one?"

"Who?" began the short-haired girl, "oh, you mean the American transfer student? She quit. Wants to try kendo or something."

"Thank you," replied Miyako, bowing ever so slightly. "I hope to see you at practice tomorrow."

Cho's classmate turned towards Cho, and when Cho focused on her, Miyako slipped back towards her teammates.

"I don't think I ever introduced myself," said the classmate. "I'm Akiyama Satomi, pleasure to meet you."

"Oh," replied Cho, somewhat startled by the change in subject and Miyako's disappearance. "I'm Yoshida Cho, the same."

"Tomorrow I plan on challenging the captain, she seems nervous and all, so I might have a chance," declared Satomi.

"Well, good luck then," replied Cho very doubtfully. "I have to start walking home now or my mom will get worried."

"Okay," Satomi smiled. "See you in class tomorrow."

"Bye!" Cho turned and began the journey home contemplating her decision to join the club.


	5. Chapter 4

Ch 4:

Satomi ran into the club house and through to the locker rooms in the back, slamming the door along the way. Haruko and Ayano looked up from where they were sitting around a table in the entry room, but Satomi was too focused on moving quickly to notice them exchange puzzled looks.

Upon finding an empty locker—the only designated ones so far belonged to the first- and second-years—she shoved in her book bag and began changing into her lucky practice outfit which she usually saved for the day before a tournament. Her mind was already so focused on how she would beat the captain that she didn't even notice the three second-years come in to change for the first official practice of the year.

Other first-years trickled in, as did the third-years from the front room, but by far the loudest person was one of the second-years Satomi recognized from yesterday. She had finished changing and was about to leave when the loud-mouth turned to look at her.

"Miyako tells me that you've played before," she nearly shouted, throwing Satomi off for a second. "After practice, you and me on the courts, Haruko, you'll judge, right?" she yelled across the locker room.

Haruko turned and rolled her eyes at the junior's impolitness. "Fine, but it's not my fault if you get crushed by her," she replied, her soft voice quite noticeable in the now-silent locker room. Satomi could feel the anger start to rise up within her. The plan to beat the team captain and claim that title for herself now thwarted. She could see Cho—the only person who knew—look sympathetically at her from the back corner.

Satomi narrowed her eyes at the girl and thought 'I'd have to beat her anyway eventually; I'll just shut her up now.'

"I accept you challenge," she answered the second year, "but just so you know, I've even beaten adults with my techniques that I've gained from seven years of constant practice." She turned and strutted out of the door.

The rest of the locker room stared at her back, amazed at the guts of the first-year to speak to her superior in such a haughty tone.

Haruko let out an exasperated sigh which broke the tension-filled silence left in Satomi's wake.

"Oi Ito, you could actually lose this if that girl is that confident," mused Ayano as she pulled on her skirt. "Not every day you see a first-year with that much spirit."

"It's fine, it's fine," laughed Ito Saki, "means it'll be a good match."

Haruko motioned to Ayano that she was finished. "Let's go first-years!" shouted the vice-captain. "Practice is starting!"

The older kids filtered out of the club house to greet Coach Oshiro, leaving the slower first-years to finish changing and gossiping about the forwardness of their fellow newbie. By the time the last of the stragglers had made it out onto the court, he had already set up several baskets of tennis balls around the court and was separating the team members into two groups.

"I just want to test your skills today so we can see what kind of workouts we need to do," he announced. "We'll start easy and work our way up. Group on the right," he said, gesturing a callused hand towards the group that contained Haruko, Ayano, Cho, and the other second year, "you'll be hitting towards the others, group on the left, you'll be receiving, will take turns, then rotate groups. Receiving group, I want you to use a forehand stroke we'll switch to backhand later."

Cho looked around and saw the other girls nodding and streaming towards their court positions while she remained standing in her original position.

"What's the matter?" asked the coach.

"Um, I'm sorry sir, but I don't know what a 'forehand' is."

He burst out laughing. "Oh, that's okay. For a second I thought you were injured or something serious. It's natural not to know a sport in your first year. Don't worry we'll teach you." He turned away. "Kita!" he yelled at the captain. "I need you over here. Masuyo," the other second-year turned "move to the other group! You can begin!"

Satomi, in the receiving group, easily returned a ball from another first-year with a smooth forehand swing and had time to watch the captain move to a different location with Cho.

'Probably going to teach the swimmer the basics,' she thought and reacted quickly with another forehand as her training partner managed to lightly tap another ball across the net. Again, and again, until finally the coach called for the partners to switch jobs, and Satomi noticed he had started taking notes.

She reached into a basket and picked out the first ball that came to hand and hit it in an easy arc over the net which her partner managed to miss. Satomi sighed, looked for another ball and repeated the process.

'I want to play real tennis or at least do real drills,' she thought to herself as she caught her partner's forehand and sent it back, again as gently as she could. Again and again until finally the coach called for a switch to backhand, then cleared the courts to watch serves.

When her turn to serve came up, Satomi took the ball handed to her and walked to the baseline. She had seen the older kids do basic flat but powerful serves and planned to take it up a notch. She loosened herself up and launched the ball into the hair, brushing it with her racquet on its descent, sending it flying across the net and bouncing high on the opposite side. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Ayano glance incredulously at Yui as both had seen the near-perfect kick serve. Satomi glowed on the inside and decided that she could wait patiently till the end of practice—which, when she stopped waiting for it, came surprisingly quickly-to show her seniors what she could do.

The fell in the sky, and the coach called the end of the mini-tryouts. Most of the first-years, exhausted from the new physical effort, returned to the locker room, but Satomi remained with the older regulars on the court.

Haruko, too, came to the court, jogging quickly with Cho struggling to keep up behind her.

"Ito, you want this to be a real match, right?" she called as she opened the door in the gate.

"Yep!" came the quick reply, "as official as you can make it."

Yui turned to Coach Oshiro, who has also started his return to the club house. "Could you please get the stool for us?" she asked pleadingly. He turned and smiled, signaling his agreement.

"Sorry Akiyama, we don't have an official umpire's chair," said Haruko, turning to Satomi, "but we will have line judges. Cho, I want you to go outside of the fence and watch, for practice. Ayano, Yui, you'll cover right, right?" she asked gesturing to the right side of the nearest court.

They laughed and moved off. Haruko turned to the two remaining second-years.

"I leave the left in your capable hands, Watanabe, Masuyo," said Haruko. "Since you're the challenger, Akiyama, you can choose whether you serve first, or the side you play on first."

"First serve," she said automatically.

Ito smiled. "Fine with me, I'll receive from that end." She gestured towards the left side of the court, where the sun would be in her eyes. "Let's do a little warm-up first, though." She walked over to her side.


End file.
